


Shades of Blue

by kate882



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-22 08:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3721834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate882/pseuds/kate882
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the small town of Teiko, Aomine probably did whatever it is that the residents are upset about this time. Enter Kuroko, the new kid who catches Aomine's attention rather quickly. When Aomine royally screws things up with Kuroko can he fix them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There was supposed to be a new kid, but Aomine hadn’t seen him yet. No one had from what he could hear.  Kuroko Tetsuya, or something like that. Aomine had even made an appearance in class that day just to see the son of a bitch who would actually move to the small speck on the map of a town he currently occupied.

“Um, I am here, actually.” A soft voice said when the teacher marked Kuroko absent.

Aomine looked towards the voice with surprise, along with everyone else in the room, to see the new kid was indeed there. Sitting in the desk next to Aomine’s no less. Aomine blinked a few times before a smirk formed on his face. “Welcome to Teiko, Tetsu. If you’ve got a brain in that pretty little head of yours you’ll hate it here.” Aomine drawled, holding eye contact mostly to make sure that the kid next to him didn’t disappear.

“Aomine. What a surprise for you to grace us with your presence today. Please refrain from trying to force your opinion of the town onto our new student.” The teacher said.

Aomine kept his eyes on Kuroko for a moment longer before turning to the teacher. “Yes, because we’re all so good at keeping our opinions to ourselves here, aren’t we? I’ll tell you what, since apparently I’m not allowed to assert any freedom of speech and try to make new friends, I’ll just ungrace you all.” He got up, winked at Kuroko, and walked out of the classroom. No one even tried to stop him.

He certainly had Kuroko’s interest.  

* * *

 

Aomine fell into step next to Momoi as she walked to lunch latter that day. “So, what can you tell me about the new kid?”

“That his name is Kuroko Tetsuya, not ‘new kid’, as I’m sure you’re well aware.” She replied, rolling her eyes at him. “Honestly, Dai-chan, I’m not sure why you always come to me for gossip. You seem to forget that I’m not all that popular. You’d have better luck asking Ki-chan about Tetsu-kun.”  

By all reasoning Momoi should be popular. She was pretty, smart, nice, and had huge tits. What wasn’t there to like? Aomine certainly couldn’t find anything. Other than maybe her constant nagging about him skipping class, but he was pretty sure that was reserved just for him. That and her cooking. Aomine was still convinced that stuff could be weaponized. Cooking didn’t need to be a factor in friendship though, so he didn’t think that should interfere with her ability to make friends.

People didn’t like her much though. Because of her looks and the types of clothing she wore –short skirts or shorts whenever wheatear allowed- she was labeled as the school whore. Girls tended to stay away from her, claiming that she would steal their boyfriends or something equally stupid. Parents also told their daughters not to hang out with her, worried her supposed bad behavior would rub off on their clearly angelic children. Never mind that she’d never even had sex with anyone. Which is why a lot of the boys in school didn’t like her. Apparently not putting out made her a bitch. Aomine had been in quite a few fights with guys who got a little too touchy feely with his childhood friend and then got pissed when she wasn’t interested in them.

Kise, on the other hand, was popular for the same reason she was unpopular with the girls in their school. It was a bit of a double standard really, and Kise tried to stand up for Momoi, but it never seemed to work. Girls just got more jealous that Momoi got to be friends with Kise, and made fun of her when Kise wasn’t around to tell them not to. But his looks got him popularity among the girls, and their parents telling them to stay away from Kise only made them want to be around him more. If he lived closer to a city he’d probably be a model. He managed popularity with the guys by being good at every single sport there was.  Whenever someone needed an extra man on their team Kise was the guy to call.

“I can’t ask Kise. If I ask him it sounds like I care, and he’ll start filling me in on _everything_ that’s happening around here. I only want to find out about Tetsu.” He replied. “And I’m sure you know more about him than I do since you actually go to class.”

She sighed, taking a seat at one of the outside benches for lunch. Aomine took the seat across from her. “I know that he’s not from a city like everyone seems to think. Just the suburbs. He’s also nice. He stood up for me when some girls were being rude earlier, coming out of nowhere and saying  something along the lines of: ‘Someone else’s sex life is none of your business. If you really are worried about your boyfriends sleeping with Momoi-san, however, you should probably get different men. After all, they can’t be that great if they’d cheat on you. Instead of questioning her intentions with them, maybe question why you are with them.’ and then he walked me to my next class.” She said with a tiny smile.

Aomine nodded. Anyone who was nice to Momoi was good in his books.

“Dai-chan, please be nice to him. Whatever it is that you’re planning that made you take interest in him, don’t get him in trouble. He’s a good guy.”

“So little faith in me, Satsuki. And so dramatic. What the hell do you think I’m gonna do to the guy? Anyway, anything else you know?”

“Just that Ki-chan’s bouncing around him like a puppy. It’s kind of cute. He invited Tetsu-kun to have lunch with him and Kasamatsu since they apparently both have lunch next period.”

“Daiki, shouldn’t you be in class right now? If I recall, you don’t have lunch for another two hours.” Akashi said, coming up behind him. “You’re also in my seat.” He added when Aomine looked over his shoulder at the red head.

Akashi gave him a smile that most would read as charming, but that Aomine knew, from experience, was threatening.

Akashi was one of the few people Aomine - sometimes- listened to in this town. Mostly because he was pretty sure that if anyone in this town was going to bring to life the small town massacre theme of a lot of horror movies it would be Akashi. If Akashi snapped and started killing people one day, Aomine wanted to still be on his good side. He was a good guy and all, but something about him just gave Aomine the creeps. And he wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Aomine and Takao had a bet running on how long it would take for Akashi to try to kill someone and on who it would be. Aomine was betting it would be Kagami. Takao thought it would be Aomine. They both thought before the end of highschool, Takao just thought it would be a bit latter into highschool than Aomine did.

“Yeah, yeah, I was just leaving.” He said waving Akashi off, and getting out of the seat. “Where’s your four eyed shadow and his boyfriend? Banging in the janitor’s closet?”

“Shintarou and Kazunari are still in the lunch line, and will be joining us momentarily. Must you be so vulgar? Especially in such a public place? Comments like that could get those two in serious trouble. And that would just leave Satsuki and I to eat lunch here by ourselves since all of the others have different lunch periods.”

“No one takes anything I have to say seriously anyway. It’s not a big deal.” Aomine said as Midorima and Takao, speak of the devil and he and his sidekick shall appear, walked up and took seats across from each other, Midorima next to Akashi and Takao next to Momoi.

“I can confirm that no one takes you seriously, myself included, but why is that of subject?” Midorima asked, adjusting his glasses before he took a sip of his drink.

“I’ll just let them fill you in on that. I’ve got some napping to catch up on. I’m thinking of going to my last class today.” He waved and walked off towards the school to that he could go up to the roof.

* * *

 

“Do you know Aomine Daiki?” Kuroko asked Kise at lunch.

“Everyone knows everyone here.” Kasamatsu told him flatly before Kise could answer.

“And most of us wish we didn’t know Aomine.” Kagami added with a laugh.

“That’s not true, Kagamicchi! I like knowing Aominecchi!” Kise interjected, before turning to Kuroko. “Aominecchi is great. If something interesting happens here he’s probably behind it. Or he’ll take the fall for it if someone doesn’t want to get in trouble and they get caught doing something.”

“Most of the time. If he doesn’t like what you’re blaming him for he won’t. Remember that time some dude tried to blame Aomine for the black eye his girlfriend got?” Kasamatsu said.

“Someone hit their girlfriend?” Kuroko’s eyebrows shot up.

“No, she got hit in the face with a soccer ball when she walked too close to the field behind the school and someone fucked up their kick.” Kasamatsu told him, rolling his eyes. “At least ten people saw it, Kise included, but her boyfriend didn’t like Aomine so he tried to blame him. That kind of thing happens a lot. Not girls getting hit by soccer balls, but people blaming Aomine for something just because they don’t like him.”

“But anytime someone gets caught with alcohol and says Aomine got it for them he agrees that he did it, even though he doesn’t talk to half the people that do that.” Kagami said.

“Why?” Kuroko asked, tilting his head.

“Aominecchi loves getting in trouble. I think it’s just to spite the town. I’m not sure who’s more excited for him to leave, the adults here or him. He dose good things though. He’s started a bunch of fights with guys trying to take advantage of Momoicchi. Even one with someone who was an asshole to Riko-san, and he says that he doesn’t even like her much. Or there was that time that they tried to make a dress code about how short skirts could be for girls. It was definitely targeted at Momoicchi. So, Aominecchi stole one of her skirts and wore it around school, saying that since the dress code said the rule applied to girls it was okay for him to do that. They took away the part that specified gender, but he kept on doing it until they just took away the rule entirely. It was pretty funny to watch Aominecchi walk around in Momoicchi’s skirts for two weeks.”

“He wore those miniskirts pretty confidently for a guy whose entire wardrobe seems to consist of basketball shorts and jeans.” Kagami added.

“You’re one to talk. Have you looked at your wardrobe recently?” Kise asked.

“Whatever. All I know is that the guy’s an asshole. Why do you even want to know about him?” Kagami asked Kuroko.

“He talked to me this morning. I was curious.” Kuroko said simply.

“If he spoke to you without you forcing him to he’s probably planning to incorporate you into his latest stunt. Aomine doesn’t really go looking for friends.” Kasamatsu warned him.

“It took nearly a week of me pestering him to get him to come over and play video games back when I first started being friends with him in middle school. That might be more because he sucks at video games though.” Kise confirmed.

“Might be planning to sleep with him. He’s pretty direct when he’s approaching girls for that.” Kagami joked.

“Kurokocchi’s a bit flat chested for Aominecchi’s taste.” Kise said with a laugh. “Do you remember the teachers’ faces when he brought that picture book to school?”

“I think that was before I got here, but I believe you that he would be looking at porn in school.” Kagami replied.

“I thought that was going to be the time when Akashicchi would finally kill Aominecchi.”

“Takao would be fifty bucks richer if that had happened.”

The bet had to be explained to Kuroko after that comment. “I think Akashi-kun would be unhappy to hear about this bet.”

“Probably. Which is why it’s best not to tell him. The guy is fucking crazy.” Kagami said, which effectively changed the subject from Aomine to Akashi.

* * *

 

“Hey, Tetsu!” Kuroko heard someone call over to him as he exited the school at the end of the day. He looked over at Aomine, rather surprised that the other had been able to pick him out of a crowd, until he saw that Aomine seemed to just be calling that to the crowd in general, hoping for an answer. Kuroko decided to give him one.

“Yes, Aomine-kun?” He asked, walking out of the crowd and over to where the other was leaning against the school building.

“Where are you going?”

“Home.” Kuroko answered, tilting his head slightly at Aomine.

“Sounds boring. Change of plans, I’m showing you around this shit hole. If you’re going to live here, you should know where things are.” Aomine said, pushing off the wall and starting to walk without so much as looking behind him to make sure that Kuroko was following.

Kuroko had already received a few offers from different people to be shown around, but he decided to follow Aomine. After all, he was still curious about Aomine.

“Hey, Tetsu, are you hungry?” Aomine asked when they were off of school grounds. “I skipped lunch to sleep, so I’d take on Akashi for something to eat right now.”

Big words considering how most people seemed to react to Akashi. From what Kuroko had observed, Akashi was a natural leader. The other had claimed him as a lab partner in their chemistry class, and even Kise, who had been sticking to him like glue in every class they had together, hadn’t argued it.

“Is there anywhere here that has vanilla milk shakes?” Kuroko asked.

“Maji Burger it is then.” Aomine decided, changing course to walk towards the diner.

“I thought you were showing me around.”

“We’re starting with the only place that sells vanilla shakes. It’s the first stop in our tour.” Aomine replied.

“Okay.” Kuroko said simply. He had to walk a bit faster than usual to keep up with Aomine’s long stride, but he was starting to get used to that. A lot of the people he’d met that day seemed to be tall. Basketball scouts should be coming to this town.

“So, what brought you here anyway?” Aomine asked.

“My mom wanted a new start after my dad left. Apparently she drove through here one time when she was lost and liked it. So, here we are. It took quite a bit of searching on the internet before we actually were able to find directions.”

“That’s a lame reason to move. An even worse reason to drag your son with you. She couldn’t have waited another year and a half for you to be old enough to go to college so that she could make her new start by herself?”

Kuroko shrugged. “Guess not. It’s not really a big deal. My best friend was moving anyway, so it’s not like I had much holding me there. And like you said, I’ve only got a little over a year left until I can go somewhere else if I don’t like it here.” He explained. The look on Aomine’s face suggested that he didn’t think that was a good enough defense.

“And I’m guessing, despite your disappearing and reappearing act, people have been all over you today. I remember the last new kid we had. Came from America. He got adopted by Riko’s gang almost immediately.” His tone made it clear that he wasn’t a fan of Kagami. At least, Kuroko assumed he was talking about Kagami, since Kagami was the only person who had so much as been to America that he’d met hanging out with Riko and her ‘gang’ as Aomine put it. It was just a bunch of boys she was friends with and who were friends with each other. He supposed he’d kind of been adopted by them too.

“Kagami-kun seems nice to me.” Kuroko said.

Aomine cut him a look, before focusing ahead of himself again. “Yeah, well, you would think that.”

“I suppose more people are noticing me than usual. I’ve even made a few friends. I hear that quite a few of them are friends with you?”

“Maybe. Satsuki, and I guess you can count Midorima, Takao, Akashi, Murasakibara, and Kise as my friends. And I deal with Riko and her group sometimes since Satsuki seems to like them well enough, but I doubt any of them would call me their friend and I’m certainly not calling them mine.” He said, ticking people off on his fingers as he listed them.

“Yes, I’ve met all of those people.” Kuroko confirmed.

It seemed that they had reached Maji. Aomine went in first. He didn’t hold the door open for Kuroko, but he did open it wide enough for himself that it didn’t close quickly enough to shut in Kuroko’s face.

Kuroko decided not to comment on the sheer amount of food that Aomine was getting since Aomine didn’t do more than raise his eyebrows at the fact that Kuroko only ordered a milk shake. Although, he wished someone else where there, because while he had never been a gambling man he did kind of want to bet on Aomine’s ability to actually consume the pile of burgers and fries he had ordered.

Then again, considering the fact that the cashier didn’t look even a little surprised at the large order, maybe betting on it wouldn’t be a good idea.

Kuroko was pretty sure that he was supposed to notice the way Aomine’s eyes zeroed in on his lips when they wrapped around the straw to his milkshake, but he decided not to comment on that either. They stayed quite for a bit so that Aomine could eat. Kuroko was both impressed and disgusted to see that it looked like Aomine was actually going to finish all of that food.

“You ready?” Aomine asked when he’d thrown away the wrappers and fry containers after he finished his food. Kuroko wondered how he could afford to eat like that all the time.

“I have been ready for a while.”

“You could have said something then.” Aomine said, rolling his eyes. “I would have hurried up.”

It took some restraint to not make a comment about how all of that food was already eaten too quickly.

They walked out and Aomine started pointing things out to him. “That’s the library, where you can find our towns selection of preapproved books. Then we have the church. They take roll via sign in sheet there, so they’ll notice if you don’t show up. And the preacher will approach you about it later. Seirin over there is where Riko and her gang like to hang out. Kagami works there. For all there is to not like about him, he’s actually a really good cook, so I’d recommend eating there at some point. There’s our clothing store. If you want something that isn’t boring you either need to make friends with someone who can sew or order online. Satsuki alters all of the stuff she buys there. Then that’s Kaijo Grocery. Kise and Kasamatsu and the rest of their buddies work there. So, don’t expect a quick shopping trip if you go there since, from what I’ve heard, Kise’s gonna want to chat with you. That’s the Shutoku drug store. It’s still stuck in the fifties, so if you want ice cream or something from a soda fountain you can go hang out with Takao and Midorima. They used to sell milkshakes too, but they sold their machine to Maji a few years ago.” That seemed to be the extent of things that Aomine found worth showing. Or maybe the extent of what there was. He didn’t specify. He just told Kuroko that they were going to Aomine’s house to watch a movie.

Aomine pulled out a box of cigarettes and held it out to Kuroko to offer him one. “No thanks.” Kuroko declined.

“Your loss.” Aomine put one between his lips before putting the box away and pulling out a lighter.

“Your lungs.”

“That’s not a very good argument.” Aomine said around the cigarette as he lit it.

“It wasn’t supposed to be.”

When they got to Aomine’s house Aomine picked a movie at random and then flopped down on his couch, stretching his long limbs, and letting a good portion of his legs hang over the edge. Kuroko pushed his legs aside and sat down. Aomine moved his legs right back so that they were in Kuroko’s lap once the smaller teen had settled down.

“Aomine-kun, this is not a movie.” Kuroko informed him about two minutes in.

“Sure it is.” Aomine argued, waving him off.

“This is porn.”

“Yeah, I noticed. Do you know how hard it is to find porn in this town?”

“Considering the books in your library have to be preapproved, I’m guessing you have to purchase it online. However, as proud as I’m sure you are of managing to smuggle this in here, would you mind changing it to an actual movie?”

“Such a buzz kill.” Aomine did get up and switch out the disk though. He probably shouldn’t just be picking things at random.

“Is there a reason you keep that with the rest of your movies instead of hiding it like most teenagers?” Kuroko asked.

“Why bother? I’ve been caught with worse, so it’s not like anyone’s going to be surprised to find that next to The Scarlet Letter. I think my mom was trying to send me a message by putting that one there.”

“Just put Easy A next to The Scarlet Letter and you guys can call it even.” Kuroko told him. The next dvd Aomine put into the old player seemed to be an actual movie this time, so Aomine went back to his former position on the couch with his legs across Kuroko’s lap.

Aomine’s mother came home as the movie was ending and looked surprised to see Kruoko there. “You must be our new resident. It’s nice to meet you.” She said, shaking Kuroko’s hand.

“You as well.” Kuroko said with a polite smile.

“Do you boys need any snacks or something to drink?” She asked.

“I’m starving. What do we have?” Aomine said. Kuroko decided that there was a black hole in Aomine’s stomach. There was no other explanation.

“I should actually be heading home.” Kuroko interjected before he could witness the phenomenon that was Aomine’s eating habits for a second time.

“I’ll walk you. It can’t be too far away.” Aomine got up while allowed Kuroko to do the same.

They said their good byes to Aomine’s mother before exiting the house. Aomine gestured for Kuroko to lead the way, and after a moment to remember the way –because as easy to navigate as this town was he still wasn’t used to it yet- he started walking towards his new house.

“What are you planning on doing after school, if you don’t mind my asking?” Kuroko asked Aomine as they walked.

“Getting the hell out of here.” Aomine said in a tone that suggested there was no other acceptable answer.

“Yes, I figured as much by your first introduction to me this morning. I meant, how are you planning to do that? College, work, a train ticket and no plan? How are you getting out of here?” Kuroko rephrased his question.

“College. I’m not into the idea of more school, but if it means getting out of here I’ll do it. I’m thinking of studying criminology to be a cop.”

“That’s an admirable job choice if that’s the route you decide to go with, but do you think you’ll get into any colleges if you’re always skipping class?” Kuroko asked him bluntly.

Aomine looked mildly offended at the question. “I’m passing all of my classes. I’m passing them rather well actually. I don’t have to show up to make the grade. Why should I deal with these people when I can just look at Satsuki’s notes and learn everything that way? The teachers just mark me present even when I’m not in class since they know I’m around somewhere and they don’t want to have to deal with me.”

“It sounds like you’re wasting your potential to make a point then.” Kuroko observed.

“And what point do you think I’m trying to make?” Aomine challenged.

“I’m not sure. I’m not convinced that you know either. My advice to you: if you’re going to rebel against the rules, at least have a reason.”

They had reached Kuroko’s house. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow. Or whenever, if you decide to skip again.” He waved before walking into his new house and closing the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Kuroko couldn’t say that he was surprised when he didn’t see Aomine in his first class, although he was rather disappointed.

What he was surprised about was that Aomine was apparently in his third period, and that he showed up to that one. Aomine looked a bit surprised to see Kuroko there as well.

“Move.” He said to Furihata once he walked over to where Furihata and Kuroko were sitting next to each other.

“Aomine-kun, you can’t just –“

“No, it’s fine Kuroko. I’ll just sit in his seat.” Furihata assured, quickly gathering his things and moving three desks over.

“Aomine-kun, that was rude.” Kuroko said as Aomine sat in the recently vacated seat.

Aomine shrugged. “Not really. This was originally my seat, but Furihata wanted to sit here, so we just switched since I wasn’t here most of the time anyway. All I’m doing is taking my seat back.”

“You could have at least asked nicely.” Kuroko persisted.

“Could have, but I didn’t.”

Kuroko would have replied if the teacher hadn’t decided that it was time to start class. There didn’t appear to be a bell in the school here, just a lot of clocks.

“Kuroko Tetsuya isn’t here?” The teacher asked as he marked attendance.

Aomine rolled his eyes and spoke up before Kuroko could. “For people who want to stick your noses all up in Tetsu’s business you’re sure bad at noticing when he’s in a room.” He said, pointing to Kuroko with a bored expression.

The teacher glared at Aomine, who merely smirked back at him and waved, but marked Kuroko present, apologizing to Kuroko for not noticing him, before starting the lesson.

 It only took ten minutes before Kuroko noticed Aomine had fallen asleep. It was an exceptionally boring lesion that day though. Kuroko found himself drifting off probably twenty minutes later.

It felt like only minutes later, but Kuroko was sure that it was longer, before he felt someone shaking his shoulder. “Tetsu, come on. The teacher didn’t notice you sleeping before, but I’m sure whoever sits here next period is going to notice.” He heard as he looked sleepily up at Aomine, his vision blurred slightly from just waking up. He blinked a few times before rubbing his eyes, Aomine coming into focus before him, giving him a disapproving look. “You lecture me about missing class and all that bullshit, but you sleep in class.” The taller boy accused as Kuroko quickly started gathering his things. Well, that explained the disapproval at least.

“I stayed awake long enough to know that I wasn’t going to learn anything new. And then I got sleepy.” Kuroko said, picking up his book bag and walking out of the class with Aomine.

“Well, I want you to teach me whatever it is you do that keeps you from getting caught.” Aomine said, throwing an arm around Kuroko’s shoulders.

“You’re looking to stop getting in trouble?” Kuroko asked, looking up at Aomine, who seemed willing enough to just walk Kuroko to his next class without mentioning if Kuroko was going the same way Aomine needed to go.

Aomine scoffed at the idea. “Hell no. I am looking to keep from getting woken up though. It’s a pain in the ass. I want to sleep without getting woken up every ten minutes. The teacher didn’t wake you up once. I want that power.” Aomine told him.

“Sorry, but I don’t think you can do it. You’ve got way too much presence. I think it comes with being a loud mouth. People tend to notice those.”

Aomine laughed, ruffling Kuroko’s hair. “You’ve got a mouth on you too, Tetsu.”

“Not as much as you. This is my class.” He slipped out from under Aomine’s arm.

“Well, I’m already going to be late to mine since I waited for you to wake up and then walked you here.”

“This school is tiny. You can make it to your next class even if it’s on the other side of the school.” Kuroko replied.

“Eh, sounds like effort. I think I’m going to ditch instead. I’ll see you around.”

* * *

 

“I hear you have become friends with Daiki.” Akashi said as they worked on the worksheet the teacher had handed them.

“Yes.” Kuroko replied without looking up from the sheet.

“I expect you to exert caution in hanging out with him. Ryouta has gotten into trouble several times by not paying attention to what Daiki is doing when he is in the vicinity.”

“I’ve only been here for two days and you already have expectations for me. I’m not sure if that means I’ve been doing something right or wrong.”

“Neither yet. I’m expecting you to do right, however.”

And that was the end of the conversation. Akashi wouldn’t let his grades suffer to simply warn the new kid about his choice of friends. Especially when Akashi himself associated with Aomine.

* * *

 

“Why is it that all of your friends keep trying to warn me about you? If you’re really worthy of so much concern, why do they hang out around you?” Kuroko had decided to go up to the roof for lunch the next day. He’d found out from Momoi that that was where Aomine spent most of his time during the school day. Now, they were sitting across from each other, sharing Kuroko’s lunch.

“Because all of my friends are assholes.” Aomine declared.

“I don’t think that’s true, but, supposing it is, why would you hang out with them?”

“Because I’m one too. We’ve got to stick together.”

“Can I get a more concrete explanation, Aomine-kun?” Kuroko asked, tilting his head.

Aomine let out an exaggerated sigh to let Kuroko know what he thought of this topic, but he started talking anyway. “They hang out with me because the majority of the student body here knows they are never leaving this town. They’re going to grow up, marry each other, take over their parent’s jobs, have kids, and the cycle will continue. They’ll find some kid starting trouble among one of their kids to disapprove of. People hate change, but they love it at the same time. That’s why they are all so obsessed with you. You’re new. You’re different. You’re someone they haven’t known their whole life. They like and hate me because, even though I’m not really doing anything all that bad, I mix things up around here. They hang out with me because I’m a change from the rules.”

“So, in other words, they hang out with you for the thrill since they don’t think they’ll have it latter.” Kuroko said.

“Yeah, basically. I mean, half the people who hang around Akashi are doing it to see when he’ll snap. What about you, Tetsu? Why are you hanging out with me? I can’t be the most outrageous thing you’ve seen since you aren’t from the middle of nowhere.”

“I hang out with you because I like you.” Kuroko said simply, shrugging his shoulders. “Why do you hang out with me?”

“To get food from you.” Aomine joked, taking another bite of Kuroko’s lunch.

“I’m afraid I will have to terminate this friendship then. I cannot afford to feed you all the time if you intend to continue eating the way you did when we got food a few days ago.” Kuroko told him.

“Sure you can. You don’t really eat, so the money that would normally go to your food just goes to paying for mine.”

“Aomine-kun should find someone else to fund his eating habit.”

“Like who? Satsuki? I’d like to live long enough to leave this town, thank you very much.”

“She can’t be that bad.” Kuroko said doubtfully.

“Ignorance is bliss. Never let yourself find out that she is that bad.”

They went on like that until Kuroko saw people going back inside, meaning it was probably time for him to get to class. He tried to convince Aomine to go as well, but he gave up when it appeared he would be late if he stayed any longer.

Kise hugged him and asked him why he hadn’t had lunch with him when he saw him in the hallway on the way to class, and Kuroko didn’t really get the chance to answer since the hug knocked him over and he had to go to the nurse –who wasn’t even a nurse, just the gym teacher- to get an icepack. He got more annoyed with Kise following him around apologizing all day than he did with having to hold the icepack onto his head.

* * *

 

“So, I heard Kise beat you up. I would have bet money on you winning in a fight with him.” Aomine said, falling into step beside Kuroko when school let out.

“I’m sure that’s not what you heard, and I don’t know why you think I’d win in a fight against him.” Kuroko replied.

“Actually, that is what I heard. And I figured that was bullshit because Kise would never start a real fight, especially not with someone he thinks of as a friend. So, I asked someone else and they told me what actually happened. But I would totally bet money on you winning a fight with him if it ever came to one.”

“You’d lose that bet.”

He threw his book to Aomine when the other raised his fist and Kuroko pulled one of his disappearing acts, putting himself behind the other.

Aomine caught the book and after a moment located Kuroko and grinned. “See. I’m twice as tall as you and have way more muscle, but I can’t even get in a first punch because you’ve got a career as a magician ahead of you. That’s why I’d bet on you winning a fight. Against anyone but Takao or Akashi. Whoever you fight won’t land a punch.” Aomine explained, holding out Kuroko’s book to him.

“I’m going to be a teacher.” Kuroko informed him, starting to walk again.

“Good for you. You can entertain your classes with magic tricks. Nothing you pick will make me think you aren’t working magic into whatever you do in the future.”

“It’s not magic. Just misdirection.” Kuroko told him. It appeared from the direction they were walking in that they were going to Shutoku.

“Yeah, I don’t know what that is. You’re going to have to explain a bit more.”

“Watch me.” Kuroko instructed.

“Gladly.” Aomine said with a smirk that had a light pink tinge coming to Kuroko’s cheeks. He ignored it though and tossed the book to Aomine again. Aomine easily caught it.

“You looked away from me.” Kuroko told him and walked into the drug store.

“But that’s not fair. You distracted me.” Aomine complained, walking in behind him.

“That’s the point.”

They went over to the bar stools in front of the part of the store that sold food and each ordered icecream. Kuroko got Vanilla and Aomine went for chocolate. It wasn’t long before Midorima and Takao replaced the guy behind the counter.

“Te-chan! How’s it going?” Takao asked, leaning on the counter and grinning.

“It’s fine. How are you Takao-kun?”

“I’m fantastic despite being forced to wear orange, which really isn’t my color, while I’m working here. It’s okay though, because it looks worse on Shin-chan.” He said with a laugh.

“Takao, shouldn’t you be working? Other kids are going to start showing up soon.” Midorima interrupted their conversation.

“We’re actually pretty popular despite Shin-chan being rude to everyone because of the stick up his ass and saying my personality drives away customers.” Takao stage whispered to Kuroko and Aomine, but moved to start cleaning anyway while Midorima went about restocking shelves.

Sure enough, other students did start showing up and ordering food or drinks or just shopping in general. They gave Aomine and Kuroko their space, but were clearly watching. Kuroko wasn’t used to the feeling of being watched, and he liked it less when it was a bunch of people than he did when it was Takao doing it.

“Hey, loosen up. You’re eating ice cream. You can’t look uncomfortable while you’re eating ice cream.” Aomine said, shaking Kuroko’s shoulder lightly. Well, what Aomine probably considered lightly. It shook Kuroko’s entire body.

“What if it’s bad ice cream?” Kuroko questioned with a tilt of his head.

“No such thing. Thus, I rest my case. You can’t be uncomfortable while eating ice cream.” Aomine said firmly. Kuroko gave him a small smile. “Better.” Aomine said, ruffling Kuroko’s hair. Kuroko batted his hand away and started eating again.

“You know some people spend time on their hair.” He informed him.

“And you’re one of them?” Aomine asked incredulously.

“You clearly haven’t seen what my hair looks like when I first wake up.”

“Nope, but I’ve got a new goal to do that. You’ve got my curiosity. You can probably spend the night some time. My mom loves you.”

“Your mom hardly knows me.” Kuroko said with a frown.

“Yeah, but she loves anyone who I invite over.” He said with a shrug.

They chatted a bit longer before deciding to leave. Takao waved goodbye to them and Midorima pretended not to notice them walking out.

“So, teaching huh? I think you’d make a pretty good teacher.” Aomine decided, putting his arm around Kuroko’s shoulders as they walked towards Kuroko’s house. “What grade do you want to teach?”

“Kindergarten.  I’ve always loved kids, so teaching them seems like a good idea.” Kuroko answered.

“Kids freak me out. Maybe that will change if I ever have one, but I couldn’t be paid to baby sit even if someone would trust me with their children.” He said, frowning at the ground.

“Kids freak you out?” Kuroko asked with amusement.

“Fuck yeah they do! Little hellions. You have to be so careful with them all the time. The smallest wrong move can hurt them. But then, they do things like crash a bike into a tree and they get right back up and say they’re fine while they have blood leaking out of their heads. Plus, they’re like perpetually drunk without any alcohol involved.”

Kuroko outright laughed at him this time. “Exactly. You can never be bored. They’ll always do something to surprise you.”

“I can do without the surprises.” He said definitively as they reached Kuroko’s house.

“So, I think this has been a pretty successful first date. Do I get a goodbye kiss?” Aomine asked with a smirk as Kuroko started to unlock his door.

Kuroko looked over his shoulder at Aomine with slightly widened eyes. Sure, he’d been able to get that Aomine had been flirting with him, but he hadn’t thought he’d be so direct about it. “Maybe when we aren’t quite so out in the open.” Kuroko replied. He could guess how well that would go over in this town if they were seen.

Aomine looked a bit disappointed, but nodded anyway. “I’m holding you to that.” He said, flashing a grin before starting back in the direction of his own house.

* * *

 

The next day Kuroko found out that Aomine really was going to hold him to that. He was walking in the hallway of the school when the taller boy grabbed his wrist and dragged him over to a supply closet.

“Aomine-kun, I’m going to be late to class.” Kuroko said once they were inside.

“They won’t even notice.” Aomine assured before moving in to kiss Kuroko’s lips. He was probably right. With that in mind Kuroko let Aomine kiss him. He reached behind himself and locked the door to prevent any interruptions before he started kissing back.

Aomine pushed him up against the door as he pushed his tongue past Kuroko’s lips to explore the inside of his mouth, tilting his head to get a better angle.

Kuroko wrapped his arms around Aomine’s shoulders, one hand moving up to tangle in the taller boy’s hair.

Aomine was the one to break the kiss first to breath, his hands moved down to Kuroko’s ass, using it to lift him. Kuroko wrapped his legs around Aomine’s waist, which helped get rid of some of the discomfort from the height difference.  Aomine’s hands started to wander over Kuroko after he started kissing him again.

And that was when the door opened. Aomine’s hands on him were the only reason Kuroko didn’t fall over when the support of the wood was lost. He quickly disentangled himself from Aomine so that he was just standing next to him, looking between the door and Aomine’s smug features.

He couldn’t even notice the look of horror on the janitor’s face. His mind was racing too quickly. He had locked the door. He knew that he had. Aomine on the other hand . . . he didn’t seem surprised at all. It hit Kuroko like a punch to the gut.

The janitor left, presumably to get the principal, and Kuroko turned to Aomine.

“You’re using me, Aomine-kun.” Kuroko said with a sad smile. He had just been another rule to break. Another way for Aomine to get in trouble to spite the town. Aomine had known someone was going to come in and he’d unlocked the door to make sure they were seen.

“What were you expecting? Everyone warned you about me.” Aomine wasn’t looking at him. He wasn’t denying it either.

“You didn’t.” He waited, but when Aomine didn’t say anything Kuroko decided to leave before the principle could get there.


	3. Chapter 3

Kuroko couldn’t honestly say that he was surprised when he saw the state his locker was in the next morning.

Someone had the bright idea of painting the word faggot across it in big, all capital, red letters. He ignored it, opening the locker to get out his books, and found a couple of slips of paper that had been shoved into the open slits of the locker at some point. He didn’t read them, just simply threw them away. He had a pretty good idea of what they would say, and had no desire to see if he was right.

Akashi walked over and assessed Kuroko’s locker with a look of distaste. “I thought something like that might have happened. If you’ve gotten all of your things out, let’s start fixing it.” Akashi said, holding up a can of paint, similar in color to the lockers, and two paint brushes.

Kuroko gave the redhead a small smile of appreciation. “Thank you, Akashi-kun.” It seemed that not everyone was against him then.

“Don’t waste your time thanking me, Tetsuya. We’ll be late to class if we don’t start right now.” Akashi replied with a shrug, handing Kuroko a brush and getting to work on opening the paint can so they could get started.

“Hey, Kuroko, did you suck his dick to get him to help you?” A kid passing them asked. His face went pale when he realized just who was helping Kuroko.

“Haizaki, I look forward to seeing you in third period.” Akashi said with a smile that promised retribution. After that no one messed with them while they worked.

Kuroko couldn’t say the same for Akashi, whose class was only a few paces away from Kuroko’s locker, but Kuroko barely made it to his own class on time. He steadfastly ignored Aomine, who had made an appearance that morning. Probably wanting to see the fallout that his little stunt had created.

* * *

 

“Kurokocchi! I think you forgot that you promised to have lunch with me today.” Kise said with a bright smile that didn’t falter in the slightest as he harshly, borderline violently, shoved a few guys who had been surrounding Kuroko away from him.

“You’re eating with the fag, Kise? Or is he eating you? You always did strike me as a bit too flamboyant.”

Kise’s elbow shot out and hit the guy in the face without even looking at him, bright smile not faltering for a second. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I guess my body just reacts negatively to people acting like idiots.” Kise said, his smile getting a bit of an edge to it. “I suggest you back away and shut the hell up if you don’t want it to happen again.” Kise finally looked at the guy, who was now clutching his nose, his tone a little too friendly to be genuine.

Kise then turned back to Kuroko. “Come on, Kurokocchi~ It looks like you forgot your lunch box too. I think I saw it up in a tree. What a silly place to leave it. No wonder you forgot. Kasamatsu and I would be happy to share though.” He grabbed Kuroko by the wrist and pulled him towards his and Kasamatsu’s table.

One of the guys, the same one that Kise had elbowed, grabbed the collar of Kuroko’s shirt to stop their retreat.

There was no smile this time as Kise spoke to the other boy. “I’d let go of Kurokocchi if I were you. I don’t want to get in trouble for fighting, but if you think I won’t you’re very mistaken.” He said coldly.

“Honestly, how long does it take to get Kuroko?” Kasamatsu said, having walked up behind them, apparently in search of Kise and Kuroko. His eyes quickly assessed the situation and he didn’t look too pleased either.

Kagami was right behind him, and looked ready to start a fight when he saw the hand balling up the collar of Kuroko’s shirt.

“Six against two doesn’t seem very fair, but I’ll happily kick all of your sorry asses by myself if you don’t get out of here right now.”

“Kagamicchi, that’s not fair! You can’t do it all by yourself! I want to beat them up for messing with Kurokocchi too!” Kise whined.

Kuroko could feel the hand on his shirt loosening. It seemed the other boys were losing their nerve in the face of opponents bigger than them.

Kasamatsu decided to take the more direct wrought, apparently tired of standing around. He stepped forward and yanked the boy’s hand off of Kuroko. “If I see this hand on him again, I’ll break it.” He said, grip so tight it looked like it would surly leave a bruise. “Get lost.” He said coldly, letting go of the boy and then shoving him into one of his friends. They scattered. “Now, we’ve already wasted enough of our lunch period here. Can we go eat?”

* * *

 

“You didn’t actually do anything to Haizaki, did you? I didn’t see him after this morning.” Kuroko asked Akashi in their shared class as he put the lamp that was apparently his lucky item onto their lab station. He wasn’t sure how a lamp was supposed to bring him good luck, but Midorima had insisted on giving it to him and Takao had suggested he just not question it, and Murasakibara had offered to carry it for him as he walked Kuroko between classes. Kuroko didn’t believe in luck, but he supposed it was a nice gesture on Midorima’s part.

“If you’re asking for Daiki or Kazunari, I can assure you he is not dead, so neither of them are getting money any time soon.” Akashi replied.

Kuroko ignored the pang he felt at the mention of Aomine. He wasn’t the subject at the moment. “You know about their bet?”

“Of course I do.”

“You didn’t answer my question, Akashi-kun. Did you do anything to him?”

“Well, nothing that anyone can prove was on purpose. My hand simply slipped and the scissors I was holding just so happened to embed themselves into his hand. A few stitches from the gym teacher and he’ll be perfectly fine. Although, I suppose since he’s right handed, and it was his right hand that happened to be stabbed, this will make it just a bit harder for him to hit you like I overheard him planning to do.”

Kuroko made a mental note to never get on Akashi’s bad side. For the first time since moving to the town, he understood why there was a bet running on Akashi killing someone.

* * *

 

Not many people actually had the balls to directly mess with Aomine. They’d seen him in fights before. He mostly just heard muttered comments from people in the hallways, and found death threats, that no one would follow through on, in his locker.

He did notice that Kuroko seemed to have gathered his own personal guard team, which was good since Kuroko was probably considered to be the easier target. Although, when it came to a real fight, Aomine was still betting on Kuroko.

Aomine watched as Riko and company lead Kuroko away from the school, probably heading to Seirin. “Why the fuck do you have a lamp?” He heard Kagami asking Kuroko as they passed by. Aomine could already guess that the answer to that question had something to do with Midorima and lucky items.

“You’re not hanging out with Tetsu-kun today?” Momoi asked, walking up beside Aomine. It probably said something about how good of a friend she was that she didn’t even question what had happened the day before.

“He’s not really talking to me.” Aomine said with a shrug. He recalled how Kuroko hadn’t so much as looked at him in first or third period.

Her friendliness seemed to disappear pretty quickly. “What did you do?”

“What do you mean what did _I_ do? Why couldn’t it have been something he did?” Aomine asked indignantly.

“Did he do something?” She asked, putting her hands on her hips and raising her eyebrows at him.

“No.” Aomine muttered.

“That’s what I thought. So, what did you do?”

“I unlocked a stupid door.”

Momoi’s eyes narrowed at him. She was smart. He could see her figuring out just why Kuroko was upset. “Why did you unlock the door, Aomine-kun?” She asked slowly, and she only ever called him Aomine-kun instead of Dai-chan when she was pissed at him.

“To be seen, of course.” He said, feigning indifference.

“Aomine-kun, how could you do that to him? Tetsu-kun has been nothing but nice to you! He likes you! And you did that to him! He almost got beat up today! Did you know that? There were six guys, and if Ki-chan, Kasamatsu, and Kagami hadn’t found him he might have had to go to the hospital. Who knows if he would have even made it there? It’s not exactly close. The nearest one is two towns over.” She was getting emotional, he could see tears pooling in her eyes as she thought about what could have happened to Kuroko. “Do you ever think about anyone else when you do things or is it all just about you breaking the rules all the time? No wonder Tetsu-kun isn’t talking to you. I don’t want to talk to you right now either!”

She stormed off in the direction of Kuroko’s group, probably planning to go to Seirin with them.

“For someone who doesn’t want to talk to me you sure just said a whole hell of a lot, Satsuki!” Aomine called after her. He was a bit surprised when she just flipped him off without even looking at him.

* * *

 

Kuroko wasn’t sure what to make of it when he heard a knock on the front door at nearly ten thirty, and opened it to see Aomine standing there, hands shoved in his pockets, eyes downcast, and dripping wet from the rain that had started about two hours after school.

“Can I help you?” He asked when Aomine didn’t say anything.

“Look, I know I don’t really have a right to ask, but Satsuki’s not even answering when I knock on her door. Do you think I could crash here for a night or two?”

Kuroko merely raised his eyebrows, waiting for some kind of explanation to the request.

“I just need a place to stay until my mom gets her job back. It’s not the first time they’ve fired her for something I’ve done, which is stupid because she has nothing to do with any of that shit, but they always realize they can’t afford to not have her, and she gets her job back in a few days. I just don’t like to hang around during those few days. I usually go to Satsuki’s or Kise’s, but neither of them are speaking to me.”

There was a long silence as Kuroko debated on what to do, Aomine getting more and more uncomfortable the longer he stood there, before he finally stepped aside and opened the door wider for Aomine. “Mother, is it okay if Aomine stays here for a little while?” He called into the house.

A woman, with Kuroko’s eyes and hair, poked her head out of the kitchen and looked between her son and Aomine.

“Is this the boy I’ve been hearing so much about? The town can’t seem to stop talking about you two. Of course you can stay, dear. You’ll have to take the couch though. It would be pretty irresponsible for me to let Tetsuya and his boyfriend share a room.” She said with a friendly smile. She didn’t seem to care that the town was not talking about them in a positive way, or that Aomine was a boy.

“He’s not my boyfriend, but thank you, mother.” Kuroko said.

Aomine thanked her as well before Kuroko started walking further into the house.

Aomine trailed after Kuroko as he walked to the hall closet to get some blankets and pillows for Aomine.

“I’ll be honest. I didn’t think you would let me in.” Aomine said casually as Kuroko opened the closet door.

“Neither did I.” Kuroko said simply. He pulled out a fluffy blanket and passed it to Aomine, and then stacked two pillows on top of it. Apparently he was sentencing Aomine to the, not so, heavy lifting.

“Why did you then?” Aomine asked, curiosity clear in his voice.

“It seemed rude to just leave you out there in the rain with nowhere to go this late.” He said with a shrug. “Do you have anything dry to wear? I don’t think any of my clothes are going to fit you. You’re free to use our drier though.”

“I’d gesture to my book bag, but my hands are a bit full. I’m not sure how dry the stuff in there is though.”

“I think I still have some of my dad’s clothes that he forgot to take. Those might be big enough for you. They’re certainly too big for me, but I didn’t want to throw them out.”

Aomine dropped the blanket and pillows on the couch and then followed Kuroko to his room, where Kuroko started digging through one of the few boxes that hadn’t been unpacked yet. Aomine was rather impressed at how neat and put together the room was considering the fact that Kuroko hadn’t been there for very long.

Kuroko seemed to find what he was looking for, and tossed Aomine a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. “Thanks, Tetsu.” He offered a small smile that Kuroko didn’t return.

“The bathroom is two doors down.” He said, before going to his dresser to pull out a pair of pajama pants and t-shirt for himself. “Our dryer is in the room connected to the kitchen. It still has instructions on how to use it written on it for when my mom was teaching me. She didn’t know she was writing in sharpie.” He added.

* * *

 

It was the middle of the night, Aomine had gotten his clothes dried. Which was good, because Kuroko’s dad’s clothes weren’t big enough for him. The pants cut off at his calves and he couldn’t even be bothered with the shirt. He’d switched out to a pair of pajama pants as soon as they were dry. Now he was lying on the couch, legs dangling over the edge, waiting for sleep to come to him.

Which was the position he was in when he heard noise, and saw light, in the kitchen. “Tetsu?” He called questioningly.

Kuroko poked his head out of the kitchen doorway to look at Aomine as well as he could in the dark of the living room that Aomine was residing in. “Did I wake you up?” He asked quietly.

“Nah, I couldn’t sleep. What are you doing up?” Aomine sat up and turned on the lamp on the table next to the couch, blinking a few times to adjust his eyes to the new light.

“I couldn’t sleep either. I was getting a glass of water.” Kuroko said, holding up the glass as he spoke. Aomine didn’t miss the way Kuroko’s eyes flicked down to his bare chest before returning quickly to his face. If he didn’t think it would make things worse at the moment, he would probably smirk and make some comment about that.

“Since neither of us can sleep, do you wanna hang out?”

“Not particularly, no.” Kuroko said flatly. Which, okay, it was fair, but it was still a bit harsh in Aomine’s opinion.

“Come on. You can’t be pissed at me forever.” Aomine tried, not really expecting much.

Kuroko sighed, thinking through his answer. “It’s not that I’m not mad at you. However, I don’t see a point in being around you any more than is absolutely necessary. It doesn’t feel good to be used like that, Aomine-kun. To be nothing more than just a rule to break. It felt like this after barely knowing you for a week. I’m not in love with you or anything like that. It’s way too soon for those kind of feelings. But, I do like you, and it’s just going to get worse the more I’m around you. I don’t want to find out what it feels like to have this kind of thing happen again with stronger feelings involved.”

Aomine seemed to consider Kuroko’s words for a moment before scooting over to make room on the couch and patting the seat next to him to indicate that Kuroko should sit with him. “We’d better get to figuring this out then, because it’s going to be a pain in the ass liking you if you’re busy giving me the cold shoulder all the time.”

Kuroko hesitated a moment, but finally went and sat beside Aomine, albeit looking pretty reluctant to do so.

“You know what I thought the first time I saw you, Tetsu? After the initial, ‘Holy shit! There’s a person sitting next to me! How the hell did I not see them before?’, that is.” When Kuroko shook his head to say that he did not know Aomine continued. “I thought, ‘Hey, this guy’s cute. Let’s see how this town handles homosexuality, I haven’t messed with that rule yet, and if I can get laid in the process.’ Which, by the way, is totally still on the table if you want to just bang instead of talk. I mean, we should still talk at some point, but we can put the talking on hold.” The look Kuroko gave him suggested that wasn’t happening, so Aomine shrugged and continued. “Then, when I found out that you helped Satsuki, I thought that you were nice as well as cute. Talking with you just reaffirmed that. It didn’t really make me reconsider what I was doing, after all, I love doing anything that upsets this town and shakes things up around here, but it did make me interested in actually perusing something with you instead of just doing something to piss off the town with you like I initially planned on doing.”

“What about the people you hurt when you try to upset the town? You’re over here because your mother lost her job, and it’s not even the first time. We’re having this talk instead of sneaking into my bedroom because you hurt me. You’re not at Momoi-san’s house because you upset her enough that she’s not talking to you. The same is true for Kise-kun. It’s like you’re trying to push everyone away from you.”

“Exactly.”

Kuroko tilted his head and gave Aomine a questioning look at that response.

“It’s not permanent damage. My mom will get her job back, Satsuki and Kise will start talking to me again, you’ll get over this, but no one’s going to try to convince me to stay here when the time comes to leave. I’ve seen plenty of people who talked a big game about leaving this town, but then couldn’t bring themselves to leave their friends and family. They’re still here, working their jobs, raising their families, and never getting out. Of course I don’t want anyone getting close. How the hell am I supposed to leave if I want to stay with them? Satsuki became friends with me before I could come to that realization, there’s nothing to be done about it, and my mom’s going to love me no matter what. But my mom’s not going to stop me from leaving. Satsuki wants out of here too. Everyone else, none of them are going to try to keep me here. I’m not tempted to stay for any of them. I don’t do anything to intentionally hurt anyone, unless they deserve it like the guys who think it’s just totally cool to touch Satsuki when she’s not interested, but I am keeping them all at arm’s length. I get to leave without hassle, they get interesting stories to tell their kids later. It’s a win win situation.”

“I think what you did to me constitutes as permanent damage.” Kuroko said flatly. “These people aren’t getting over it anytime soon. It’s good that I was already planning on leaving for college, because I’m pretty sure I’m never going to be able to get a job here. Unless I’m working for one of my friends here, but it would probably take a while for any of them to be in any kind of position to hire me.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I didn’t really think that one through. But it’s not such a big deal if you’re leaving too.”

Kuroko leveled him with a glare. “It is a big deal, Aomine-kun. It’s a big deal because you’re okay with doing something like that to someone. That’s not okay.”

Aomine sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I know that. What about a second chance? I’ll try to keep from causing any trouble that gets other people in trouble. I mean, I’m not going to stop pulling shit around here, but I can try to keep from pulling other people into it without at least letting them know what the plan is. If I fuck up at that you can feel free to drop me, but in the mean time we can try and see how this thing with us goes. What do you say, Tetsu? The town already thinks we’re together, so we can’t make it much worse by proving them right.” Aomine suggested.

“What about keeping people at arm’s length?” Kuroko asked, raising his eyebrows at Aomine.

Aomine waved the comment off. “I don’t need to do that to you. You aren’t planning on staying, so how would you hold me here? I’m pretty sure I’ve effectively gotten most of the town to not want anything to do with me, if they didn’t feel like that already, by getting caught with you.”

The long silence that followed as Kuroko thought out his answer made Aomine start to fidget as he tried to figure out what Kuroko was going to decide.

“Okay. One more chance, but I expect a vanilla milkshake for this.” Kuroko said, leaning over and pecking Aomine on the lips.

Aomine gave him a blinding grin. “Deal. So, what was that you were saying about sneaking into your bedroom earlier?”

“Not tonight we aren’t. It’s going to take a bit longer than five minutes after we make up to get me in bed.”

“Haven’t you ever heard of makeup sex?” Aomine complained.

“I’ve heard of it. You just aren’t getting it.” Kuroko ruffled Aomine’s hair as he got up. “I’m going to bed.”

He was about to turn to leave, but Aomine caught his wrist and pulled him into a kiss. “Night, Tetsu.” He said when he pulled back and let go of Kuroko.

“Good night, Aomine-kun.” Kuroko gave him a small smile and then started walking back towards his room.

“You know, you could call me Daiki now that we’re a thing.” Aomine called after him.

“Good night, Aomine-kun.” Kuroko repeated over his shoulder.

Aomine rolled his eyes, and settled back into laying on the couch. “I’ll get you to call me that eventually.” He said, just loud enough to be heard before the door to Kuroko’s room closed.

He found sleep a lot easier after their talk.


End file.
